What does a Treasury Manager do?

A treasury manager might have various duties depending on the organization for which he or she works, but the main duty is to look after the organization's funds. Typically, treasury manager duties include designing and executing comprehensive financial plans for an organization, raising capital, making budget forecasts, managing funds and investments, directing the treasury department, preparing financial reports for the management team and more. Also, the treasury manager's job might require him or her to travel regularly to meet with customers and to go to meetings of finance associations in order to stay up to date with any developments in his or her field.

Generally, in order to function, organizations need money to help finance their activities. Therefore, a typical organization might have a treasury manager who handles many of its financial matters. He or she will be charged with making sure the organization has a sound financial plan by which to operate. The main aim of the plan is to outline how the funds will be raised and how they will be used efficiently to reach the organization's objectives.

Issues regarding the source and specific use of the funds are addressed in the financial plan. One of the sources, for instance, might be borrowing from a bank. In this case, the manager might need to take care of many tasks in order to secure the bank loan, which might include negotiating with bank managers regarding the amount to be borrowed, at what interest rate and for what period.

Other ways of raising capital might include the issuance of stocks and bonds. Essentially, those who buy a firm's stocks receive ownership of a portion of the firm. Those who buy bonds are lending money to the firm, and in return, they get a specified regular rate of interest and a promise of getting the principal back after a given period. Particularly, the avenue of issuing stocks and bonds might require the treasurer to work with investment banks to arrange the best way of making this happen. The treasury manager might also design risk-management strategies in order to minimize risk in many types of investments that the organization might make.

Moreover, a typical financial plan will contain the budget forecast for a given period. After that particular period, for instance, the manager will assess forecast versus actual results, and oftentimes, there might be differences between the two. The differences might be unfavorable, and in that case, he or she will usually need to identify the causes of such disparity. After the causes of the differences between forecasts and actual results have been found, the manager might be equipped to make better decisions for the following period to improve performance.

In large organizations, for example, the treasury manager's job description might require the manager to use his or her team leader skills to supervise an entire treasury department that is dedicated to many financial operations for the organization. Moreover, a team leader might be a certified treasury manager with an industry certification. To get a professional certification, the manager will have gotten rigorous training in virtually all aspects regarding treasury management.